A variable capacity compressor has a drive shaft, a rotor fixed to the drive shaft and rotating integrally with the drive shaft, a swash plate slidably attached to the drive shaft, and a linkage mechanism provided between the rotor and the swash plate and guiding changes of inclination angle of the swash plate while transferring rotary torque from the rotor to the swash plate. The variable capacity compressor is capable of changing inclination angle of the swash plate to change piston strokes so that discharging amount can be controlled.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-068756 discloses a linkage mechanism of a variable capacity compressor. The linkage mechanism has a projection extending from a rotor toward a swash plate, a projection extending from the swash plate toward the rotor and overlapping with the projection of the rotor in a rotating direction, and a guide face provided on a base portion of the projection of the rotor. The guide face slidably guides a fore-end of the projection of the swash plate to guide changes of the inclination angle of the swash plate and receive axial direction load applied to the swash plate. The projection of the rotor is formed in a forked shape with a slit in which the projection of the swash plate is inserted and sandwiched. With this configuration, the projection of the rotor and the projection of the swash plate are overlapped with each other in the rotating direction and the rotation of the rotor is transferred to the swash plate.
A linkage mechanism of a variable capacity compressor disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-172417 has an arm extending from a rotor toward a swash plate, an arm extending from the swash plate toward the rotor, an intermediate link overlapped with those arms in a rotating direction, a hinge pin linking the arm of the rotor and the intermediate link, and a hinge pin linking the arm of swash plate and the intermediate link. In this linkage mechanism, the intermediate link, the rotor and the swash plate are overlapped one another in a rotating direction in a sandwich structure. With this configuration, rotary torque of the rotor is transferred to the swash plate, and the axial direction load of the pistons applied to the swash plate is received by the hinge pins.
A linkage mechanism of a compressor disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-176658 has a similar configuration to the linkage mechanism of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-172417.